In all fairness, I already knew the the story by heart even before I bought the book. Reason being, this heartwarming tale was made into a movie on the Hallmark Channel ( now known as Diva Universal) years ago with the leading characters of the book, Olivia Dunne and Ray Singleton, played by Keri Russell and Skeet Ulrich respectively.. I got the book off Amazon.com since you can't find it in any leading bookstore over here in Malaysia. There were some minor differences here and there but majority of the dialogue in the movie were lifted off the book directly. Also, the description of Ray's appearance in book didn't do justice to Skeet and I didn't found the character in the book appealing.
Sypnosis:
The book is pretty much about Livvy or Olivia's relationship with Ray after she was shipped out to a rural town in Colorado by her strict minister father to marry a farmer in an arranged marriage upon finding out that she was pregnant after a one night stand with a military personnel. She pretty much had to give up her dreams of pursuing a Masters degree in archaeology and travelling around the world looking for archaeological digs like Ephesus in Turkey. Much of the book deals with Livvy's conflicting feelings for Ray, a good and kindly farmer who would do just about anything for Livvy to help her fit into life at the farm. While Ray loves her, Livvy, understandably finds it difficult to reciprocate the feeling given her misgivings in relation to arranged marriages. However, as their friendship blossomed, Livvy grew increasingly fond of Ray but still had to deal with the guilt that she still didn't deserve him as she is carrying a child out of wedlock. I very much enjoyed reading the book as Ray and Livvy's relationship progress positively from the initial awkward encounter at the train station when Livvy arrived until the birth of her child.
Verdict: 4.5 stars out of 5. Can't wait to watch the sequel which is scheduled to be filmed upon availability of the principal actors.
